Prologue
Zedediah
The smell of blood is thick in the air, my mouth is dry, and the copper taste feels thick on my tongue. When I look at Lucy laid out like she’s their sacrificial offering, my silent screams fill my head, begging her to move, but she doesn’t.
A jolt hits my chest, making my heart stutter before dropping straight into my stomach. How can the human body withstand so much trauma?
She’s completely nude, stripped of everything, including her dignity. All four of her limbs are sprawled out with her ankles, wrists, and waist chained to the table beneath her. Tangled red hair is stuck to her face in wet, yet crusty, patches. The only color in her cheeks are the bruises already beginning to form from their violence.
My father and his men have turned her into a goddamn canvas for their cruelty. She’s barely recognizable, only a shell of who she was—of what she was. Anger expands in my chest, threatening to explode, promising to consume everyone and everything in this fucking room.
Harold steps over to her, barely giving me a glance. But in that brief moment, something flickers on his face—something almost human. Like he might be sorry. Like he hates what he’s become.
But it doesn’t matter, because as soon as I see it, it disappears.
He starts unlocking the chains, beginning with the ones biting into her wrists. I stare at the marks, the once soft and clean skin is now torn. Welts pattern her forearms from the links in her restraints. He works his way down, removing those around her thighs and ankles. When the final lock is dropped to the floor, he checks for a pulse before nodding to Fenris, and my eyes find Jonah slumped against the wall.
I can’t explain it, but I felt it. When Lucy’s life left her body, Jonah’s life left his, too. To Jonah, the only thing Lucy could be, is perfect. He was never meant to belong to anyone else but her, and she felt the same.
Now she’ll belong to the earth, buried beside his family in our Fellowship’s graveyard. I notice the trembles coursing through his body, his shoulders shaking under the weight of his sorrow and rage. A rage that mirrors my own.
I see the moment it takes over, consuming him as he glares at my father, and in a matter of seconds he’s charging for him. But before he can reach him, Fenris’ men grab him and jerk him back. I swear I feel the crack of his shattering bones vibrate through me when he’s thrown to the floor. Jonah’s eyes meet mine, blinking twice before falling shut as his body goes still. I try to breathe through the panic that is suffocating me. My limbs feel heavy and foreign, like they’re no longer mine. The bodies, the lights—it all smears together and I stand there, helpless.
I can’t save him, I can’t save her, and the reality of that is too much.
My heart pounds against my sternum like a drum, and I sit up in bed. Sticky clumps of hair are stuck to my face from sweat, and my body is shaking as the nightmare replays in my head.
For years my life has been stained with every second of the torment I just relived. I squeeze my eyes shut and run my fingers through my hair, praying that if I pull on the strands hard enough the pain will help erase the images from that night.It was just a bad dream. It’s over.But it wasn’t a dream. It was a memory.
Chapter One
Zedediah
My father asked to see me this morning once I completed my walk-through of the grounds. I know we are having a new member “join.” Fenris had told me she is “set to be delivered” this week, as if she is a package he purchased, and knowing him, she very well may be. I stand in the shadows, keeping my presence hidden so I can eavesdrop through the cracked door. I don’t have to look at him to see the smile on his face, I hear it in his tone as he whispers about her arrival. Catarina. He drags the R out in her name, rolling it off his tongue like he’s tasting it.
Hearing her name makes my heart skip a beat, and I can’t figure out if what I’m feeling is excitement or anxiety. It’s probably both, because she doesn’t belong here—well, didn’t. Whether or not she does no longer matters, she’s here now.
I step closer to the door to hear his words more clearly. “Her father all but begged me to take her.” His words don’t come as a surprise. I’ve seen this play out too many times before. A family in need and my father swoops in to save the day.
They don’t realize he’s the puppet master, only offering them salvation they’ll never see, as a means to thread the noose around their necks. By the time they realize his strings are permanent, it’s too late. “She’ll need to be…” My father continues with the same note of amusement in his voice. “Reigned in, broken. She’s got that fire that’ll burn her out before she knows it. Rebellious girls like that are always problems, and we don’t have any more room for problem children.”
Those words sink into me and I feel my fingers curl into fists. I know from his earlier discussions that she’s not a child—legally she’s an adult. Soon she’ll just be another victim and age won’t matter. Who am I kidding… she already is. He’s no stranger to breaking people—people like her, people like me—until they’re nothing but a cadaver for him to sink his claws into before rooting around. Dissecting everything that makes them human, instead of a possession.
His voice carries through the hallway, bouncing from one brick wall to the next. “I’ll have Zedediah handle it. He’ll get her under control. She’s coming with a chip on her shoulder—we’ll see how long that lasts.” He forces a laugh before the room and hall go eerily quiet.
A sudden burst of air rushes out when the door to his office swings open, and I’m caught. “Zedediah,” my father’s voice snaps, cold and commanding. “Come.” I straighten up when his eyes lock onto me as I step inside. He doesn’t wait for me to shut the door behind me before he’s picking up where he left off and gestures to the chair across from him. “Sit.” I do as he says.
“You heard?” He pauses, stretching out the moment in an attempt to pump up the dramatics. “Catarina. She’ll be here tomorrow, and you’ll handle her.” He waves his hand lazily, unamused with my presence. “She isn’t anything you haven’thad to handle before.” He arches a brow, as if it’s more of a question than a statement.
My tone is flat. “Right.”
The legs of his chair scrape across the floor, echoing through the room. The sound makes me bite the tip of my tongue. “Good. She won’t be allowed to run wild. You’ll see to it that she’s managed.” By managed he means manipulated.
“I need her tamed quickly, we cannot afford delays.” I feel the sense of dread rising in my gut. “Understood?” He looks at me, and I follow the slightest nod of his head as he studies me. “I trust you won’t disappoint me.” I hold his stare, and he clears his throat before mindlessly shuffling the papers on his desk.
“Good. And remember, there’s no room for hesitation. It will do you both good to make sure she understands that.” There’s nothing for me to say so I don’t speak. He looks up at me then motions to the door. “You’re dismissed.”
The door closes behind me with a soft click, and I feel like I can finally breathe. But there’s something about her name, and the way Fenris spoke about her, that lingers.
